One of the great perks of being an entrepreneur is having complete control over time.
From the time we founded STORM, Pao and I have always worked with a completely flexible schedule.
Actual sms messages:
Dude, coffee shop muna ako this morning.
or
Had a late night, will work from home today
or
Won't be in the office this afternoon
We never had to be worried that the other person is slacking off. We'll even tell one another if we need a break to slack off. This is because we trust one another. In the end, I know Pao cares about the firm and will work his tail off for its objectives. I know that goes both ways.
This never became a rule for our employees though.
We followed a … [Read more...]

STORM is scaling fast.
Founded in January 2013 (a spinoff from my original HR startup, STORM Consulting), STORM is bent on transforming the way companies manage benefits.
I'm fairly confident STORM has been among the fastest growing local startups across these last 2 years, revenue-wise. We've been blessed.
In 2013, we proved our new business model could work - an entirely new way for companies to manage their benefits.
In 2014, we started growing fast. Very fast. We've quadrupled both 2013 revenue AND 2013 manpower. We're set to AT LEAST quadruple revenue again in 2015.
There are no signs of slowing down. In fact, it's looking like things will go even faster.
The most … [Read more...]

These past few months have been crazy in STORM. We started the 2014 with about 16 employees. We're ending the year with around 50 employees and 60 more job openings.
After 5-6 years hovering at around 10-15 employees, we're now scaling at an unprecedented level.
It's been all sorts of crazy, but its been fun. It's a riveting challenge to see just how far we can push this.
This sudden shift in scale started when we realized two years ago that, "Hey, we can be more than a niche player in the industry - we could help EVERYONE out with flexible benefits."
We widened the aperture.
Stepping Back for a Wider View
Every once in awhile I would talk to an entrepreneur about ideas or … [Read more...]